Birds of Celebes: Anatidae. 



873 



"Iris brown; bill green-black; feet light brown-yellow" (d', Maros, Waterfall 

 S. Celebes, 24. II. 78, Platen — 5383). 



Sex. The sexes are similar in coloration. The black frame enclosing the wing-speculum is 

 perhaps less sharply defined in the female; in this specimen the greater wing-coverts 

 are broadly edged with pale brown, the tertiary adjacent to the speculum edged with 

 olive, the secondaries terminally edged with white, though next the speculum black 

 (Q, Lake Posso, 12. II. 95: P&F. Sarasin). 



Measurements (3 adults fi-om Celebes). Wing 240— 262 mm; tail 85—95; tarsus 43—45; mid. 

 toe c. 58; exposed culmen 49 — 51 mm. 



A specunen from Java (?) has: wing 260, one from AustraHa 250 mm. 

 Count Salvador! says specimens from Timor, the Pelew, Fiji and Samoa Islands 

 are decidedly smaller than those from Austraha and New Zealand. 



Young in down cf. Buller 5. 



Eggs. "Somewhat paler than those of the conuuon Anas boscas, otherwise perfectly similar" 

 (Nehrkorn MS.). Up to 10 in number, dull creamy white, 63.5 X 40.6 mm (Buller 9). 



Nest. Of dry grass, flags, etc., lined with the bird's own down, placed on forks of trees, or 

 cliffs, or in herbage on the ground (Buller 9, Ramsay 10). 



Distribution. Celebes: — North (in Dresden Mus.), Central (P.& P. Sarasin), South 

 (Platen); ?Sumatra (Vorderm. 11); Java (Boie, Junghuhn 4); Lombok (Everett 

 18); Sumba (Riedel 6); Timor (S. Mil Her 4, Wallace 6, 16); Moluccas — Buru 

 (H.O.Forbes 16); Papuasia — New Guinea, New Hanover, Solomon Is., Santa 

 Cruz Is. (cf. Salvadori 6, 12, 16); Australia and Tasmania (Gould II, Ramsay 8, 

 etc., 16); Polynesia — New Caledonia (Verreaux, Layard 14); Loyalty Islands? 

 (Layard 14); New Hebrides (Layard 24); Pelew Is. (Tetens, Kubary 14); Fiji Is. 

 (Peale, Graffe, Layard 5, 14); Tonga Is. (Peale, etc. 5, 14); Samoa Is. (Peale, 

 etc. 5, 14); Society Is. (Peale, Wodehouse 5, 14); Lord Howe Id. and Norfolk 

 Id. (Ramsay S); New Zealand and Chatham Is. (Buller, etc. 9, 16). 



The two specimens of the Australasian Wild Duck from Celebes in the 

 Dresden Museum and the one in the Sarasin Collection are the only ones as 

 yet on record from the island. The credit of its first discovery there belongs 

 to Dr. Platen, whose collections included the fine male described above, which 

 was killed at the Maros Waterfall in the South. A second specimen is labelled 

 "N. Celebes, 1883"; it was received from a dealer with a piece of the label 

 (probably bearing the collector's name) clipped off — why, we do not know. 

 In 1895 this Duck was found by the Sarasins on their arrival at the southern 

 end of Lake Posso in Central Celebes ; they write : "Small flights of two species 

 of Duck, the large Anas superdliosa and the small Anas gibberifrons were plentiful 

 here; we managed to kill four of them at one shot". 



Anas superdliosa is very abundant in New Zealand, where its habits are 

 interestingly described by Sir W. Buller. It is a shy bird, as well it may be, 

 when we read of seven thousand — though not all of this species — being 

 caught by the Maories on one lake in three days; that is, Avhen they had shed 

 their quills and were incapable of flight. Dr. E. P. Ramsay records it from 

 all the great divisions of Australia, and it is known from most of the island- 

 groups of Polynesia. In the Moluccas, curiously enough, it has been recorded 

 only from Buru. It seems to be most nearly related to Anas luzonka Fraser 



Meyer & W i t'l esw o rt li , Birds of Celebes (Dec. l:uh IS'J"). 110 



